The influence of "botho" on social space in Botswana since independence

Abstract:

Since independence, Botswana has developed from one of the poorest countries in the world to a middle-income country. In spite of rapid urbanisation and global capitalism, the ideology and philosophy of social interaction and ethics known in Setswana as "botho", has unquestionably survived as a cultural construct. The most pertinent physical manifestations of 'botho" are the "kgotla" (meeting place) and the family home. This article explores the current state of these institutions, once exclusively male and female spaces respectively, comparing how the spatiality of these architectural places has reacted to prosperity and change in rural versus urban settings.